Like Normal People by Karen E. Bender

Like Normal People Reviews

• 
  Joan Colby

  The premise of this novel was promising. A married couple Ella and Lou. Their daughters, Lena who is retarded and Vivian who is normal. Vivian’s daughter Shelley. Ella and Lou despair over Lena’s future. Lena falls in love and marries Bob, a retarded man who works with her at Goodwill. Lou and Ella strive to find a living situation for the couple, veering from their own home to an apartment to assisted living. Bob dies in an accident. Lou also dies. Shelley, now a teenager, goes off on a jaunt with Lena. The writing is well-done. Here’s the problem, none of the characters, aside from occasionally Lena and Bob, are convincing. A deliberate quirkiness seems imposed upon them. The interaction between Lena and Bob comprises the most interesting part of the book. But that’s just not enough.
• 
  Chris

  At first I toyed with the idea of giving this book five stars because the figurative language was just so beautiful. The imagery made me pause and ponder as I read. Then as I continued reading, I downgraded it to four stars. Although that is still a very good rating the plot was a disappointment. At first I thought the main character was Lena but Ella was the character that captured the book. Ella was who I ended up caring about since she was so well developed. Shelly was never completely finished as a character but she was a 12 year old and that under development may have been intentional.
• 
  Katie Addison

  I have such a hard time understanding how anyone could give this book less than 5 stars. It captured me wholly. I was completely engrossed in the characters and the slow description of their lives. I found them so uniquely interesting, and Karen Bender's imagery is so beautiful and thought provoking. I enjoy that, really, so little happens in this book. It takes place in one day, and so many days are like that. This one was simultaneously uneventful and adventurous, with so much happening while not much was going on. For Lena and Shelley, it was such an event. I felt like I was peering into something private the whole time. But it was so good. Definitely one of my new favorites.
• 
  Pauline

  I wanted to like this book more, but it felt . . . unfinished. I thought there was a lot more that could have been delved into and, though it covered a lot in terms of the characters, it still felt like it was just scratching at the surface. I also found the mother to be unlikeable. I wanted to sympathize with her, but couldn't and that may also be due to my perceived superficiality of the storyline. Sadly, I just thought the author could have done a lot more with this promising storyline.
• 
  Cindy

  This book went nowhere fast and I quit reading it when I realized that. A middle-aged mentally challenged woman whose husband has died is visited by her teen-age niece and they go on simple little adventures around their city. It was boring, bland, and not in the least interesting.
• 
  Lacey

  I found this a compelling novel with lots of heart and love for the characters. The initial paragraph actually turned me off--it seemed overly descriptive. But that was not characteristic of the book. Instead, the descriptions were evocative and the characters were wonderful.
• 
  RyleeAnn Andre

  A pretty simple but sweet book. Follows the lives of a couple of women who belong to the same family but different generations, and is beautiful when discussing their relationships and their environments.
• 
  Nancy

  Bob! Noooooo! So sad.
• 
  Debbie

  Here's a book whose beauty really sneaks up on you. I liked it from the very beginning and was fascinated by the characters but the end really spoke to me.
• 
  Sylvia

  Very well written. Some books start off well but then fade, this was the opposite. The story of a family with a mentally challenged child has heart and depth.
• 
  Glenda

  Ok but not great
• 
  Daisy

  This is just beautiful. Almost perfect. So touching.
  
  Lena clapped her hand over her mouth. "I think you look like a silvery grownup," she said, and she seemed to mean it.
  
  The air between Ella and her husband was bruised. She looked at her soup, not knowing what to say.
  
  "What's your name?" the man asked Shelley.
  She did not know what to answer. It was as though he were asking her to be born.
  
  "royal with boredom"
  
  Lena reached forward and put her hands on Shelley's. The girl's hands twitched beneath them. Lena squeezed her fingers very hard.
  "I'm crazy."
  Lena was gazing at her. "Is this a secret?" Lena asked.
  "It doesn't matter."
  "Is it?"
  "I guess so, yes."
  Lena sat up straight with excitement. Her lips were trembling. "What's wrong?" Shelley asked.
  "You told me a secret!" said Lena." Me."
  That trust filled her aunt with a joy so enormous, she could barely sit still. She made a gleeful sound, banged her heels against the metal floor, and lifted Shelley's hand to kiss the small knuckles. Her eyes were bright with gratitude. "You said a secret to me."
  
  3 mistakes: a plastic Vons grocery bag in the '60s?; the word "stylist"; saying Santa Barbara was south of LA
• 
  Kimberly

  This book took up most of my weekend. I loved the authors way of describing the light, " The dark air astonished her, for she had never precisely seen it before. It was the color of deep sapphire and beneath it the sand and water and trash cans were radiant and pure. "
  This is mostly the story of a mother's love and how her perception changes as her daughters grow older and she loses her husband. A beautiful well written book. If you like character development and want to see into a woman's heart read this.
• 
  Marion

  Had a hard time finishing the book. It went nowhere fast, and moving back and forth across time destroyed what little momentum it did have.
• 
  Kathy

  Well written but one of those "slice of life" books where nothing really seems to happen.
• 
  Drew

  Achingly tender. A refreshingly frank story of a woman who is developmentally disabled and the family that loves her.